"My basic duty is not to cling to office, and even less to obstruct the path of younger people, but to pass on the experiences and ideas whose modest worth stems from the exceptional era in which I have lived," it said.

Parliamentary seat

The BBC's Michael Voss in Havana says there was no indication about how or when the Cuban leader might step down.

FIDEL CASTRO

Born in 1926 to a wealthy, landowning family

Took up arms in 1953, six years before coming to power

Brother Raul was deputy and Che Guevara third in command

Has outlasted nine American presidents

Target of many CIA assassination plots

Daughter is a dissident exile in Miami

But the mention of younger leaders suggests that his younger brother Raul, who is 76, may not automatically succeed him, our correspondent says.

Fidel Castro has ruled Cuba since leading the 1959 revolution.

Earlier this month he was nominated as a candidate for a seat in Cuba's National Assembly - a move seen as an indication that he might still hope for a return to power.

Mr Castro must be re-elected if he is to remain president of the Council of State, and so head of Cuba's government.

Nationwide elections will be held on 20 January.

The assembly will then choose the Council of State, which President Fidel Castro has headed since the early 1960s.

Reactions

Mr Castro's illness last year sparked much speculation about the end of one-party rule in Cuba.

But many observers say that there has been a relatively smooth transfer of power.